PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, whether it may not be possible that the workmen employed on Plymouth Breakwater should be transported to and from their work in a steam launch, in view of the great discomfort and danger attendant upon a journey of
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one and a-half to two hours in an open boat in all weathers?

Broadly speaking, the men only work at the Breakwater during the summer. They then live on a hulk moored near the Breakwater and only come ashore on Saturdays as a rule, staying till Monday. They are provided with boats, and ordinarily pull themselves ashore and back; but they often take advantage of a Works Department sailing barge which conveys stone to the breakwater. Funds are provided in this year's Estimate for building a steam barge for the Works Department. When this is built the men will ordinarily use it for going backwards and forwards.